The political ambitions of George Galloway and his anti-war Respect party were thwarted by a UK slump in their vote.

Galloway, the party's only MP in the last parliament, failed to hang on to a seat in east London. He came third in Poplar and Limehouse, behind Labour's Jim Fitzpatrick and the Conservative candidate.

The Scottish firebrand, a Glasgow Labour MP for 18 years until being expelled from the party, did not turn up for the count in Poplar. As the results were read out, there were cries of "where is he?"

Galloway had won 8,160 votes, a 17.5% share of the vote, a slight fall compared to 2005. In a jibe at the defeated MP, Fitzpatrick sneered: "The disrespect party has clearly suffered a huge defeat and that's another major positive from yesterday."

Respect fared better in Birmingham Hall Green where another of its leaders, Salma Yaqoob, a psychotherapist and Birmingham city councillor, polled 12,240 votes, a 13.9% rise. She came second, nonetheless, to Labour's MP Roger Godsiff.

The party's overall decline may, partially, be due to the slackening of animosities stirred up by the Iraq war. Respect's national share of the vote halved compared with 2005, accounting for around 0.1% of all votes cast. A total of 33,251 people supported the party's candidates.

In Bethnal Green and Bow, the seat captured by Galloway in 2005, Abjol Miah also came third, this time behind Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Miah won 8,532 votes (16.8%), a sharp drop on 2005.

The party had suffered several setbacks since 2005. Three years ago Galloway was briefly suspended as an MP after "clear evidence" that his Mariam Appeal "did benefit" from money from Iraq. There was no evidence he personally and directly received money from the regime.